He meets a woman named Trish who takes him on a journey to defeat the demon lord Mundus, who is responsible for the deaths of Dante's brother and mother.

The gameplay consists of levels called "missions", where players must fight numerous enemies, perform platforming tasks, and occasionally solve puzzles to progress through the story.

Side quests, called "Secret Missions" in the game, are located in hidden or out-of-the-way areas and are not required for completion, but provide permanent power-ups.

They typically challenge the player to defeat a group of enemies in a specific manner or within a time limit, or solve a puzzle.

He impresses her by easily brushing off her assault, and explains that for years, he has hunted demons in pursuit of the ones who killed his mother and brother.

[8] Trish explains that her attack was a test, and that the demon emperor Mundus, whom Dante holds responsible for the deaths of his family, is planning to cross over into the human world after centuries of imprisonment.

[9] The scene jumps to their arrival at an immense castle on the mysterious Mallet Island, where Mundus has steadily grown his power and influence over the years in preparation for his ascension.

Dante explores the castle, fighting off demons summoned by Mundus to attack him and overcoming all sorts of devious puzzles, traps, and tricks.

He also obtains two magical weapons, a sword called Alastor and a pair of gauntlets known as Ifrit, and encounters the first of Mundus' servants, a giant spider/scorpion demon known as Phantom.

[10] In their first battle, Dante manages to defeat Nelo Angelo and is about to deliver the final blow when his opponent suddenly overpowers him.

Despite Mundus' overwhelming power, Dante is victorious, and, believing her to be dead, leaves his amulet and sword with Trish's body before departing.

[13] Returning to the island, Dante finds that the castle is collapsing, and is cornered by the injured Mundus, having used the last of his power to cross over into the human world.

Dante banishes Mundus back to the demon world, and the emperor vows to one day return and finish his conquest.

[17] Initially developed for the PlayStation 2, the game was directed by Hideki Kamiya after producer Shinji Mikami requested him to create a new entry in the Resident Evil series.

[18] Around the turn of the millennium,[3] regular series writer Noboru Sugimura[4] created a scenario for the title, based on Kamiya's idea to make a very cool and stylized action-adventure game.

[19] The story was based on unraveling the mystery surrounding the body of protagonist Tony,[20] an invincible man with skills and an intellect exceeding that of normal people, his superhuman abilities explained with biotechnology.

[3] As Kamiya felt the playable character did not look brave and heroic enough in battles from a fixed angle, he decided to drop the prerendered backgrounds from previous Resident Evil installments and instead opted for a dynamic camera system.

[18] This new direction required the team to make a trip to Europe where they spent eleven days in the United Kingdom and Spain photographing things like Gothic statues, bricks, and stone pavements for use in textures.

[26] Kamiya has also stated he perceives Dante as "a character that you would want to go out drinking with", someone who was not a show-off but would instead "pull some ridiculous, mischievous joke" to endear people to him.

[27] The cast of characters remained largely identical to that in Sugimura's scenario,[28] although appearances of the hero's mother and father were written out of the story.

During a test-play, Kamiya discovered that enemies could be kept in the air by slashing them repeatedly, which led to the inclusion of juggles by gunfire and sword strikes in Devil May Cry.

[49] GameSpot criticized the game's conclusion for its dramatic change in gameplay to a rail shooter-like style at the story's climax, as well as a leveling-off of the difficulty.